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It was at a private board meeting in March last year at the Care Quality
Commission’s headquarters that four of the regulator’s most senior managers
met to ask: is Morecambe Bay another Mid Staffs?

Some were keen to point out the similarities. All the more remarkable, then,
that it seems the meeting ended with an order — not to investigate, but to
hide the evidence.

That is the most explosive conclusion of a
report by the management consultancy Grant Thornton into why regulators
failed to act over concerns about the death of mothers and babies at the
University Hospitals of Morecambe

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Dame Jo Williams

Appointed chairman in 2010 on a £65,000 salary, the equivalent of £2,500 for each of the two days she was required to work each month, and resigned in September last year.

The former chief executive of Mencap, Dame Jo lives in Chester and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Deirdre Kelly

A commissioner when the CQC was launched in 2009 and former chairwoman of its audit and risk assurance committee. She was reappointed in 2010 for a term due to end in October but resigned suddenly earlier this year.

She is Professor of Paediatric Hepatology at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. She could not be reached for comment.

Louise Guss

A solicitor, appointed head of legal services in July 2010 and later the Director of Governance of Legal Services on a salary of £110,000. She left the regulator last month.
She said yesterday: "My reasons for choosing to leave are personal and not in any way shape or form connected to this Trust or the [Grant Thornton] report."

Cynthia Bower

Became chief executive in 2008 and had a salary of £200,000 when she quit in September last year with a £1.48 million pension pot.

She started her career working in children’s homes before joining the NHS, where she ended up as chief executive of the West Midlands strategic health authority.

Mrs Bower, 57, has homes in London and Birmingham. She could not be contacted in time to comment.

Jill Finney

Appointed deputy chief executive and the director of strategic marketing and communications in February 2009, earning £145,000 a year.

She led the regulator’s response to the inquiry into the Mid Staffs scandal. Mrs Finney, from Hertfordshire, took up a position at Nominet, the internet company, in February. She could not be reached for comment.

John Lappin

Director of finance and corporate services since on a salary of £145,000. He is due to leave next month.

Mr Lappin said yesterday: "I am not involved in decisions of a regulatory nature. I did not know of an internal report critical of CQC’s handling of Morecambe Bay until the publication of the Grant Thornton report. I have not been involved in the Grant Thornton review nor interviewed by them."

Amanda Sherlock

Appointed director of operations delivery in July 2010 on a salary of £135,000. Previously south east regional director of the Commission for Social Care Inspection. After being an occupational therapist she went on to senior roles in health, regulation and the NHS Executive.

She left the CQC at the end of last month and could not be reached for comment.

Martin Marshall

Joined the CQC in 2009. He was not reappointed when his four-year term came to an end in December last year.

Mr Marshall, who lives in London, is professor of healthcare improvement at University College London and was formerly deputy chief medical officer at the Department of Health. He could not be reached for comment.

John Harwood

A commissioner since March 2010. The former head of the Food Standards Agency is chairman of CQC’s Stakeholder Committee and sits on the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and the Remuneration Committee. He lives in Wootton, Oxfordshire, and is a Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

Mr Harwood could not be reached for comment.

Allison Beal

Appointed director of human resources in August 2010 on a salary of £115,000. She is due to leave in September.

Ms Beal said yesterday: "I am not, nor have I ever been, involved in any operational regulatory decisions at CQC. I was not interviewed as in the Grant Thornton Review, and none of the references in the report refer to myself."